Hello. Dave Manby here….
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Back to kayaking!
In 1976, at the age of 21, Dave was asked to join five other kayakers in a team of ten on the famous first descent of the Dudh Kosi, the river running off Mount Everest the trip leader was Mike Jones. The team left in July and began the 7,500 mile drive in a Transit mini-bus to Kathmandu. Once there a further 180 mile hike, with all the equipment including 10 kayaks, had to be undertaken to reach Everest Base Camp.
This was the starting point of the pioneering paddle which involved some of the hardest white water canoed to date. Dave himself had one close call when his boat capsized and in the freezing water was unable to Eskimo roll. Luckily the team managed to get him out of the river before it was too late.
The whole expedition was filmed by Leo Dickinson and was shown on British prime time television in boxing day 1976. The film itself won over 50 international awards, and has recently been remastered in Los Angeles and made into a DVD. It was shown again in the UK on BBC 4 on January 8th 2014.
“Dudh Kosi – Relentless River of Everest”
After Everest
Dave was involved in more first descent expeditions including the attempted 1978 K2 trip on the Braldu River (Pakistan) in which Mike Jones died while trying to save a companion. Other expeditions include early descent of the Coruh River in Eastern Turkey and the Sezar, Dez and Bakhtiaria Rivers in the Zagros Mountains in Iran.
He has also edited a book “Many Rivers to Run” of kayaking stories from around the world.
Dave also set up and ran the Mike Jones Rally – a fund raising event for the fund set up by Mikes’ parents after his death – in Llangollen 1979 -1989.
See you on the water,
Dave
